This is an interesting panel (it actually starts about half an hour in, I think) from last week’s Goddard Symposium. Four women (Marcia Smith, Lori Garver, Sandy Magnuson and Mary Lynne Dittmar) and one man, moderated by Frank Morring. As expected, Lori is quite politically incorrect.
Category Archives: Business
The Pension Crisis
As I’ve said in the past, if the federal government bails out a state, it should be under the conditions that it revert to territory status until it has demonstrated fiscal responsibility over a long period of time. And in the case of California, it should not be allowed to come back in as a single state. If this requires a constitutional amendment, I’ll bet you could slam one through enough of the more fiscally prudent states pretty quickly.
SLS Update
Bob Zimmerman notes the ongoing (and increasing) absurdity of the program.
The Cloud People
I totally get the anger that has created Trump. I share it. But I will never understand why they don’t see that he’s a false vessel for it.
Also, this is funny but sad, about Whole Foods customers.
[Update a while later]
This seems related: The new WASPs are Asians in Silicon Valley.
Gary Kasparov
“Hey, Bernie, don’t lecture me on socialism; I lived through it.”
SpaceX’s Manifest And Schedule
Peter Selding has a good report on what Gwynne said earlier this week.
I don’t think sixteen more flights this year is overly ambitious. I’d sure like to see the heavy fly in November, the new announced date, but I also won’t be at all surprised to see it slip into 2017. And from what she said, I’m very encouraged about minimum refurbishment.
[Update in the afternoon]
Oh, isn’t this cute. Roscosmos thinks it can compete by cutting manufacturing costs on Angara.
More On Blue Origin
Eric Berger has more details from Jeff Bezos on flight-test plans. If I were to do a new edition of the book, I’d replace references to Armadillo with what we now know about Blue Origin. It’s an entirely different approach from XCOR and Virgin Galactic; “Look ma, no pilot.”
[Update a while later]
“To let space travel flourish, leave it to the cranks and crackpots.”
Yes. Let’s end Apolloism and NASA worship.
[Update a few minutes later]
I think that Loren Grush has a legitimate complaint about who was, and wasn’t invited to that tour. It’s not at all clear how Blue Origin came up with the list. Alan Boyle was obvious, because he’s in Seattle and has been covering this stuff for years, as were Eric Berger and Jeff Foust, but I think that they could have accommodated more, and more women.
Parabolic Arc
It’s hard to believe that Doug Messier has been blogging for nine years. But in order for him to continue, he needs some help.
Vulcan And AR1
Boeing and Lockmart still seem on board with the new rocket development, despite Congressional idiocy. Of course, they know that the only way to survive against SpaceX is to build a new rocket.
Great Moments In Socialism
[Late-morning update]
Related: Five economic myths that will not die.
A lot of economics is counterintuitive to many.